Memories of the Future: Ana Barrado/Rockets @Bell

JTF (just the facts): A total of 21 black and white photographs, generally framed in black and matted, and hung in the single room gallery space against blue and white walls. All of the prints are gelatin silver prints made between 1978 and 1996, and are either strictly vintage or printed within a few years of the negative date. Physical dimensions range from 12x10 to 22x18 (or reverse), and the prints have not been editioned. The exhibit was organized in conjunction with Paul M. Hertzmann Inc. (here). (Installation shots at right, via Deborah Bell.)

Comments/Context: Venturing into space is one of the most inherently aspirational of human pursuits; we look to the immense sky above and optimistically challenge ourselves to reach for the stars. Ana Barrado's images of sleek booster rockets, space capsules and astronaut gear from across the years are simultaneously dated and futuristic, giving us a glimpse of the technological dreams of our recent past and deepening our reverence for the power (or folly) of our own machine age wonders.

Most of Barrado's photographs capture the conical forms of rockets, either on display or on the launchpad. The white projectile forms are surprisingly sculptural; nose cones, tubular bodies and angular tail fins provide overlapping geometric interest, while black engines jut and slash from the undersides. Taken with infrared film, the rockets gleam with a faint fuzzy patina, enhancing the contrasts (particularly the blinding white) and darkening the wispy Florida skies. Space suits, moon rocks, solar system displays and other relics of space flight add to the science fiction mythology, becoming a family friendly form of self congratulatory tourism.

Barrado's landscapes full of mothballed missles have an unexpectedly surreal quality to them; objects built for speed and distance are firmly rooted to slabs of concrete and grassy lawns, the open skies above mocking their status as museum monuments. I think the best of the pictures in this show move beyond the technical specifics and become more visually abstract, transforming the forms of the rockets into symbols of that ambitious quality in us all, the one that sees the excitement in stretching beyond our limits.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced between $3500 and $5500, generally based on size. Barrado's work has not yet entered the secondary markets in any significant manner, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Feature: Photograph (here)

Memories of the Future: Ana Barrado/Rockets
Vintage Photographs 1980s-1990s
Through June 25th

Deborah Bell Photographs
511 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Deborah Bell to Join Christie's Photographs Department

Last week, I did an afternoon swing through Chelsea and stopped by to see the Ana Barrado show at Deborah Bell Photographs (review coming later this week). After kicking around the nuances of infrared film with my ever welcoming and knowledgeable host, she mentioned that this would be the last show at the gallery; she was closing up shop after more than a decade to join Christie's as the Head of the Photographs Department. What a surprise!

In my head, I think the well worn path usually runs in the opposite direction, in that auction house specialists eventually tend to move on to galleries (brand names or new ones of their own), but Deborah made a compelling case that given the changes in how material is now moving through markets, joining Christie's would give her a better opportunity to see and work with a bigger sample of high quality material from across time periods and styles. I think that this logic probably does hold, especially if you are running a smaller, more niche gallery program like hers.

I'm sure that the transition from running her own gallery to working for a large corporate entity will have its own mix of bittersweet moments and new opportunities, but luckily for her, the existing Christie's Photographs team is already strong and successful. As a collector, I'll certainly look forward to seeing her unpretentious brand of Minnesota friendliness at work in the showrooms this fall.

Marcia Resnick, Bad Boys: Punks, Poets, and Provocateurs @Deborah Bell

JTF (just the facts): A total of 29 black and white photographs, generally framed in black and matted, and hung against blue and white walls in the single room gallery space; one group of 6 images is unframed and pinned directly to the wall under glass. All of the works are vintage gelatin silver prints, taken between 1974 and 1982. The prints vary in size from roughly 6x10 to 16x20, with most roughly 9x13 or reverse. Individual image captions written by the artist are available in the checklist. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Marcia Resnick's New York portraits from the late 1970s and early 1980s are a gritty, raw time capsule, capturing the diverse personalities of famous "bad boys", running the entire spectrum from from Iggy Pop to Divine.

Moving between close-in faces and more theatrical stagings taken a bit further back, Resnick documented musicians, artists, authors, and actors, always with a sense of heightened drama: Johnny Thunders wearing a wide brimmed hat and elongated hair like a Hassidic Jew, John Belushi hiding behind the crook of his arm, Jean-Michel Basquiat surrounded by looming shadows, Quentin Crisp in dapper profile. The images have a down and dirty reality, mixed with the feeling that something special was going on; in one picture, Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, and William Burroughs share a tense meal together, apparently eating in silence.

In addition to the various portraits, there is a terrific series of images of a chaotic dinner table, overstuffed with littered plates, cigarettes, crumpled napkins, half full beers, and discarded bones, photographed from slightly different vantage points and moments in time, creating a messy overlapping testament to excess. It's grungy, disorderly, confrontational, and full of kinetic energy, just like the many larger-than-life characters peering down from the walls nearby.

Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced between $2000 and $4500. Resnick's prints are not regularly available in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

My favorite image in the show was Charles Ludlum, NYC, 1979; it's actually hanging in one of the small side alcoves and isn't pictured in the installation shots above. The up-close portrait is slightly off center, and the formal qualities of the various textures (shirt, tie, jacket, whiskers, fingers, and folds of skin) make for an intricately layered composition.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Review: Flavorwire (here)
• Interview: Papermag (here)

Marcia Resnick, Bad Boys: Punks, Poets, and Provocateurs

Through February 26th

Deborah Bell Photographs

511 West 25th Street

New York, NY 10001

Sid Kaplan: Urban Stonehenge @Bell

JTF (just the facts): A total of 22 gelatin silver prints, framed in black and matted, hung in the single room gallery space, against a mix of white and yellow walls. The vintage images were taken between 1990 and 2008, and all have been printed 14x11. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Sid Kaplan is probably best known as a master printer and teacher, a man who has printed for Weegee, Robert Frank, Eugene Smith and many, many other famous photographers over his long career in the darkroom. The current show on at Deborah Bell shows a series of his own images of New York, made over the past two decades.

Taken at sunset amidst the tall buildings and urban canyons of the city, the images all have a similar composition: a jagged V shape of dark silhouetted building forms, with the sun as either a flash of light or a muted circle situated down at the apex of the triangle. The formal composition draws the viewer's eye down from the contrasting edges of dark black and lighter sky to the sun in the center at the bottom, near the street.

Seen together, the images of the series perform a fugue of theme and variation, with each image having the same general arrangement but highlighted by different details: deep black cornices, scaffolds, warehouses and cranes against subtle changes in the sky, from clear to cloudy and light to dark. Not surprisingly, these are indeed spectacular prints of very difficult negatives, given the preponderance of high contrasts. The blacks are amazingly rich and lush, knife edged against lighter areas of grey.

What I like best about these works is that they are both a new and original vision of the city (even the Chrysler Building makes an appearance and isn't a cliche in this setting), and that they are very evocative of the actual feeling the city has at twilight, as the towering buildings become rugged formless shadows.

Collector’s POV: All of the prints in this show are priced at $3000 each. Kaplan's work is not available in the secondary markets, so interested collectors will need to stick to gallery retail for potential follow ups. These works fit directly into the center of our city/industrial genre, a perfect foil for other views of New York in our collection. I particularly liked Sunset #19, with its serrated edge of balconies and lone smokestack. (Hard to see in the poor image at right.)

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Interview: Weegee portfolio (here)
• All Aboard to the Past exhibit @Roosevelt Island(here)

Sid Kaplan: Urban Stonehenge

Through July 11th

Deborah Bell Photographs

511 West 25th Street

Room 703

New York, NY 10001

Figure Studies @Deborah Bell

JTF (just the facts): A total of 21 black and white images, framed and matted in various ways and hung throughout the one room gallery space. Negatives range from 1887 to 2006. (Installation shots at right.)

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The following photographers are included in the group show (with the number of works on display in parentheses):

Vito Acconci (1)

Erwin Blumenfeld (6)

Bill Brandt (1)

Harry Callahan (1)

Mariana Cook (2)

Louis Faurer (2)

Gerard Petrus Fieret (2)

Peter Hujar (1)

Andre Kertesz (1)

Dora Maar (1)

Daido Moriyama (1)

Eadward Muybridge (1)

Susan Paulsen (1)

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Comments/Context: The fascinating thing about group shows, regardless of their theme or subject, is that they are nearly always less about the works that have been included and more about the editorial eye of the person who curated the show. Why were some works included and others left out? What was the curator thinking when he/she selected these pictures and sequenced them in this particular way?

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The group show of nudes now on view at Deborah Bell feels less like a show with a strident viewpoint but more a collection of images carefully chosen by a connoisseur. The nude form is a subject that has challenged photographers since the very invention of the medium, and one that has left many lost in a fog of repetition and cliche. The overriding thought I had as I wandered through this exhibit is that her choices were not obvious; there are no greatest hits here, but instead an unusual mix of images (many that I had not seen before) that approach the subject in surprising ways. Each picture requires some thinking, and the show merits investing a bit of time to inspect every image carefully. Overall, it is an understated yet well crafted show that offers some new perspectives on a common form.

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Collector's POV: Since nudes are one of the three main genres in our collection, there were many images in this show to tempt us. Prices range from $1200 up to $50000, with one image not for sale and one "price on request". There are a series of three amorphous solarized nudes by Erwin Blumenfeld that caught our eye, but our favorite piece was Louis Faurer's Untitled, 1962, from Harper's Bazaar (a woman's back). Of course, this is the one image in the show that wasn't for sale.

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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

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Figure Studies

Through February 28

Deborah Bell Photographs

511 West 25th Street

New York, NY 10001

More on this show from Fugitive Vision here.